"How fine you are looking," said Grace to Sam. "Traveling must agree with you."
"Traveling does agree with us," said Sam.
"We would have been here sooner, only we stopped to talk to an old schoolmate," said Dick, and then he told about Bob Sutter.
"Oh, I remember Bob Sutter," said Nellie. "We went on a straw-ride together once—before you came to Putnam Hall," she added, to Tom.
"I know him, too," put in Grace. "He's a nice boy."
"Of course he is," said Sam pointedly.
"But he isn't as nice as some boys," went on Grace in a lower tone, and giving Sam an arch smile that made him feel very happy.
They were soon in the cottage and greeting Mrs. Stanhope, who had been lying on a couch. The lady greeted them in a motherly way that made them feel more at home than ever. She thought a great deal of the Rover boys, and especially of Dick, and did not object in the least to the marked attention Dick bestowed upon her only child. As my old readers know, the Rover boys had, in the past, done mother and daughter more than one valuable service.
The boys were fortunate in obtaining rooms in the hotel close to the cottage, which would
